At a distance of only 1,000 meters from the Vietnam - Laos line, there was a series of hills, overgrown and inaccessible. The four hills, 937, 916, 900 and 800 had absolutely no military value. They were not the crossing point of any road. It could never have been thought that a deadly battle could ever be waged for their possession.
After the Tet attack the Americans had intensified offensive patrols and clearing operations in the A Sau Valley area. The approximately 50 km long valley was a branch of the famous "Ho Chi Minh Corridor", through which men and supplies, from North Vietnam, through Laos, ended up in the South. The hill 937 was one of many located around the perimeter of the valley. He could hardly be described as protecting the namesake of the North Vietnamese leader, Corridor.
At best it could be a simple outpost. The Americans, after the Tet surprise, were convinced that the Northerners were preparing a new attack of the same type and set out to catch up. General Westmoreland, head of American forces in Vietnam, was certain that the North was massing forces with the aim of capturing the city of Hue.
So he ordered his forces to comb the area. Initially, units of the 9th Marine Regiment were sent in, which discovered some increased enemy activity, but nothing major. For this reason, Wesmoreland decided to carry out new offensive reconnaissance in the area, assigning the mission to the 101st Airborne Division (AM), the most elite American division at his disposal. At the same time, information arrived that the Northerners began to gather significant forces in the area. It was now necessary for the Americans to pursue them.
The 3rd Brigade of the 101st AM took over the mission. In addition to its three airborne organic battalions, it was reinforced with a South Vietnamese infantry battalion. On May 10, 1969, the American airborne assaults began in the A Saw Valley. The helicopters came and went to the designated airdrop zones. As soon as the commander of the 3rd Brigade, Colonel Conmee, gathered his forces, he ordered his battalions to comb the valley, wide.
One of the battalions of the 3rd Brigade, the 3rd, under Lieutenant Colonel Honeycutt, was ordered to survey the area towards Hill 937 and capture the hill. Honeycutt split his battalion and sent three of his four companies to scout the area and finally converge on the top of the hill.
The fourth company formed the reserve of the battalion. The Americans, officers and men alike, did not think they would be fighting that morning. Even if they discovered enemy units, they knew that they would quickly disappear, across the border and into the jungle.
Until then at least the North Vietnamese never defended their positions to the last. But this time things were to be different. The North Vietnamese leadership, warned by the previous Marine mission, knew that the Americans would return and decided to fight on ground of their choosing.
Fortification
Elevation 937 was offered for this purpose. Apart from the dense vegetation and the large trees that covered it, it was steep, making it difficult to climb and moreover it had been excellently organized by the indefatigable little Vietnamese soldiers. Very deep underground shelters, battle trenches, machine guns, mortars, underground stores and dressing stations were constructed.
Anti-personnel mines and traps were also placed everywhere, while snipers were positioned in the towering trees. The stage was set for the carnage that was to follow. The defense of the hill was undertaken by the 29th Regiment of the North Vietnamese Army, with approximately 1,000 men.
The 3rd Battalion carelessly continued its movement. Honeycutt, in fact, in order to cover a larger area of research, also allocated his company, which had been kept in reserve until then. So four American companies marched independently against the hill, not knowing what was waiting for them.
Before long the scouts came under fire from an advancing enemy section. The Americans responded immediately and the North Vietnamese retreated and disappeared into the dense vegetation. The event was too commonplace to worry Honeycutt or his superiors. However, the operation was stopped because it was getting dark. At first light the next morning Honeycutt ordered three of their companies to resume their movement, again holding one company in reserve. At that moment all hell broke loose.
Slaughter first…
In the early morning, the North Vietnamese in ambush began to fire, by surprise, with small arms against the advancing Americans. Many American soldiers were killed or wounded. Screams and screams and curses could be heard all along the line, along with desperate bows to the nurses.
Above the trees Vietnamese snipers wreaked havoc. The Americans, bewildered, froze and returned fire. But soon they were forced to collapse. From the new positions, the American companies requested the assistance of their air force and artillery.
In a few minutes the hill was on fire. Trees, soil, human limbs, headless bodies, flying in the cool morning air. Explosive shells and bombs had filled the atmosphere with their peculiar smell. As soon as the shelling stopped everything went quiet. Nothing could be heard from the opposite side.
The American soldiers were certain that there was nothing alive left in front of them. Honeycutt ordered the Battalion's 2nd Company to move first. Confident enough, the American soldiers stood up and attempted to move. For many this was their last act in the earthly world. Heavy, deadly fire greeted them. The bullets of the Kalashnikovs whistled, with their characteristic sound.
Terrified, the Americans became one with the ground and called for new airstrikes and artillery fire. In a few moments the hill had once again turned into fireworks. Trees and plants were disappearing, the earth was being dug up. The napalm spewed huge flames. 937 had turned into a volcano.
The aerial bombardment lasted until the last light of day, as did the artillery. With the coming of night, the landscape became quiet again. Only the smells of burning trees and burning flesh reminded of what had happened. That night Honeycutt met with Conmee's commander. The two men concluded that they were facing strong enemy forces. But they still believed that in the end the Northerners would retreat.
For this reason Conmi did not consider it advisable to reinforce the 3rd Battalion with his other forces, which continued their search, but had not encountered the enemy. As dawn broke the next day, three American companies began to move up the hillside again.
But again a massacre followed. The American soldiers found themselves inside a killing zone, fully mined, where the enemy had built almost invisible campaign works from which they fired with every available weapon.
Stubbornness on both sides
It was obvious that they could not go forward. So the American divisions stopped at the occupied positions and began to create a new landing zone, near the positions, for the airlift of the wounded. Their losses were already severe and their morale had collapsed.
However, their leadership was rather pleased, given the opportunity to trap and destroy an entire enemy compound. But the men did not share the optimism of the commanders and their morale remained low, despite the constant bombardment, artillery and air force on the enemy positions.
They were now used to seeing "those bastards save her". As soon as dawn broke the 2nd and 3rd Companies of the Battalion rushed out again, only to be decimated by the murderous fire of the "immortal" defenders.
The new attack cost the Americans 11 dead and 40 wounded. The familiar scene followed. Heavy artillery and air force fire once again "burned" the hill. The next day, May 14, all American artillery available in the area began a barrage of fire against the hill, guided by reconnaissance aircraft. Without the artillery bombardment being lifted, a new air force bombardment began.
Huge flames and thick smoke covered the entire hill, which now seemed lost in the inferno of the explosions. Under normal conditions, nothing could have survived up there. Unfortunately for the Americans, the conditions were not normal. After a fierce three-hour bombardment, three companies set out again.
The American soldiers, themselves bewildered by the intensity of the bombardment, marched crouching, cautiously, with their weapons extended and all their senses in full operation. He was moving step by step on the now bare ground. Suddenly the Vietnamese started firing from all sides again.
The battle was entering its most critical phase. The Americans, fighting stubbornly, succeeded in pressing the lower crest of the hill, to the west. But immediately they received a fierce counterattack from the Vietnamese and were shaken. The 2nd Company withstood the pressure, despite heavy casualties, but the 3rd Company was decimated, losing over 50 men. And its commander suffered a nervous breakdown and became paralyzed. The collapse of the 3rd Company resulted in the retreat of the 2nd as well, which otherwise risked being encircled.
Thus the Americans lost the few territorial gains that they had secured with much effort and blood. The new failure forced American commanders to take a more serious look at the situation. So Conmi ordered the 1st Battalion of his brigade to rush to the hill.
Nevertheless, the new American attack was repulsed with heavy losses, several from friendly fire, as in the confusion, American helicopters attacked an American company, disintegrating it. However, with the assistance of the 1st Battalion, on May 18, the first combined American attack against the hill was launched. The Americans, fighting heroically, managed to reach within a few meters of the summit. But there the enemy's resistance hardened even more.
The Vietnamese had undermined their positions and every trench they abandoned was also a trap for their opponents. Soon a series of explosions rocked the area and many soldiers of both armies were dismembered. And when the American helicopters started hitting the friendly units again, the unfortunate pedestrians were again forced to retreat.
In the meantime it had rained and the excavated ground had turned into a sea of mud. The Americans were badly hooked, but any retreat would be an eternal shame for them. So Conmee called in new reinforcements – two American and one South Vietnamese battalion. The final assault on the high ground came on May 20 by 4 American battalions against the remnants of two North Vietnamese battalions of the North Vietnamese Army's 29th Infantry Regiment.
Inglorious victory
It was preceded, as usual, by a heavy bombardment. At noon of the same day the Americans reached the summit. They had captured, after 10 days, an insignificant hill, losing 440 men - dead and wounded. The Northerners had 630 dead. Another 400 or so managed to escape. The Americans called the hill "Hamburger Hill". The North Vietnamese would have every right to call it "Thermopolis".
In this particular battle, however, the arrogance and narrow-mindedness of the American leadership is striking. The Americans underestimated their opponent and believed that their sheer fire superiority was enough to give them victory. They therefore threw into the attack a small number of men, compared to those available, leaving the enemy to enjoy numerical superiority in the first days of the battle.
The battle of "Hamburger Hill" caused a new uproar in the USA. The heroism of American soldiers was being wasted on stupid operations that resulted in more asteroid-covered coffins coming back to the US. After the Tet Offensive, the Battle of Hamburger Hill was America's second propaganda disaster at home and abroad. The US had already lost the war. They just didn't know it yet.